kustomizer

7 hours ago, Keys_Collector said:

The same thing was said about Amazing Fantasy 15 and dealers holding onto boxes of them.  Regardless of the supply, there are so many collectors that consider these books their grails because characters like Wolverine, Spiderman and the Hulk are some of the most popular characters out there that are apart of mainstream pop culture.  Even if there are thousands more copies out there, there are thousands more newer comic collectors that will eventually want the book in their collection.

I never heard about dealers with boxes of AF#15. I didn't thinking illicit bulk-buying of comics from distributors started until 1964. Would be very interested in reading more about that.

I certainly understand there's huge demand for Hulk #181 (and rightly so), I'm just saying the prices have been manipulated on it.

6 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

The idea that ONE guy is going to topple the supply and demand of a book that already has 10,000+ slabs, sounds silly to me but to each his own

I heard a couple of days ago that there's at least one other guy with cases of 181. Whenever he needs cash, he peels off a few more. I hope that doesn't sound too silly to you.

10 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

It's how supply and demand works, but how would you estimate the demand now that you've estimated supply?

By the price, hence why it is not a low price, seemingly demand is able to keep up with your estimated supply.

i get where you're coming from though, it's just don't under estimate the demand of a household name...

Well, the problem is, nobody knows how many this guy has in his secret stash.

2 hours ago, etowah1123 said:

Um........…no

I dunno, before I put several grand into a book, I'd like to know whether or not there are countless quantities of uncirculated copies out there. Maybe that's just me, though.

10 minutes ago, etowah1123 said:

Um........…no

Why not? That's how supply and demand works.

1 minute ago, Wolverinex said:

Yes,  not rare but there is a massive demand... wolverine is almost important as spiderman to marvel

I wonder though, if there are hundreds or thousands of uncirculated 181's out there, shouldn't the value be lower?

Well, of the 24 copies of Hulk #181 this guy sold in the past three months, only one was CGC'd. The rest are raw, so there is no way of telling how many boxloads the guy still has.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/all_things_comics/m.html?item=203080954519&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=hulk 181&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684

Just by keeping a bit of an eye on eBay seller all_things_comics, it's easy to deduce that there are warehouse quanties on the following.

These are his books sold in the last 3 months (back to June 2):

Amazing Spider-Man #50 = 11 copies
Amazing Spider-Man #129 = 12 copies
Amazing Spider-Man #238 = 17 copies
Amazing Spider-Man #300 = 22 copies

Batman #181 = 9 copies

FF #52 = 13 copies

HULK #181 = 24 copies (YES 24 COPIES)

Iron Man #1 = 11 copies

Marvel Spotlight #5 = 7 copies

Giant Size X-Men #1 = 5 copies

X-MEN #94 = 8 copies

Silver Surfer #1 = 16 copies
Silver Surfer #4 = 3 copies

He also has multiple active listings for most/all of these as well. Now, these are all supposed to be super-rare and expensive books, but this guy has been selling them in limitless quantity for quite a few years and continues to do so. He has others stocked in depth too, such as Avengers 4 and 57, though not quite as many of late. Does anybody study or collate these numbers?

Another thing is that most of these books are described as 'high grade' or 'near perfect' -- but also tend to have colour touches and trimming, which obviously contradicts the high-grade claims. I imagine the seller must have made these amateur "restorations" himself, maybe he has OCD.

Just how many copies of Hulk #181 are there?? Seems to be a limitless supply. There's a seller on eBay right now who, if you check his sold listings, has absolute tonnage of books like Hulk #181, Silver Surfer #'s 1 and 4, Spider-Man #'s 50, 129, 238 and 300, Avengers #57, Iron Man #1 etc and many more. I counted 24 sold copies of Hulk #181 and 14 of Silver Surfer #1 (1968) in just the three months going back to early June. He has more of each currently listed as well. And this guy has been selling these particular issues (and more) for many years now.
I won't name him, but there's definitely warehouse quantities at play here. It seems like an endless supply. Does this not concern anyone who's paying hundreds or thousands for these 'rare' books? Anyone else can check these sales as easily as I can..

I've seen some of the counterfeits of early Marvel keys. I would not be able to pick the difference if I wasn't told. Very concerning indeed.

That does not look to have been trimmed at all. Just a nasty case of Marvel chipping, with zero 'enhancement'.

On 8/31/2019 at 12:43 AM, sfcityduck said:

The "Certified Guarantee Company" does NOT guarantee their evaluation of a book.  From this website, what they guarantee is that the "Collectibles are authentic and have been inspected by at least two professionals."  That's it.  They also state: 

Finally, CGC states that even the minimal guarantee they do make as to authenticity is voided if you crack the comic out of the holder.  

In sum, what is going on here is that everyone is taking CGC on faith, because they are NOT guaranteeing their grade and evaluation, and there's no recourse against CGC if they get it wrong.  Pretty awesome business model!  Having said that, they have every incentive to try as hard as they can to grade accurately because the only thing they are selling is their reputation.

They literally have the word 'Guarantee' in their name but they don't guarantee their work?

On 1/24/2018 at 12:03 AM, jasmit990 said:

 

Over 10k graded with 600 restored.  imo it will see ups and downs over time.  

It's by no means a 'rare' book. Just plenty of demand.

What's wrong with buying comics for resale? It's a little thing we have called capitalism.